


A Peaceful Life Where Love Is Free To Grow

by spookyfbi



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Klaus Hargreeves & David "Dave" Katz During Vietnam, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:55:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28929867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookyfbi/pseuds/spookyfbi
Summary: For the EnKlave Fest prompt “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”Hearing his favourite song on the radio makes Dave reflect on how his priorities have changed from when he was a younger man.
Relationships: Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz
Comments: 31
Kudos: 33
Collections: EnKlave Fest 2021





	A Peaceful Life Where Love Is Free To Grow

“Hey Burne, turn that up!” Dave said, lifting his head from his book. “That’s my favorite song!”

Burne, who was sitting next to the radio, twisted the knob and the song filled the tent.

“Oh really?” Klaus said, raising his eyebrow and standing from his cot. “Then I gotta dance to this groovy beat!”

“Who needs the USO girls when we’ve got Hargreeves?” Piccolo chuckled. He started clapping and egging Klaus on as Klaus swayed his hips suggestively

_When Liberty Valance came to town the womenfolk would hide. They’d hide…_

Dave grinned. Klaus put on a show for them as the song played. The men all thought it was hilarious, a welcome distraction. One of their own putting on a performance, fanning himself coquettishly.

_From out of the East a stranger came, a law book in his hand. A man…_

Klaus started with Piccolo. He delighted in seeing how far he could take this, flaunting his flamboyance to these 1960s men. When he’d first realised he’d arrived in the 60s he’d considered toning down his personality for his own safety - for a very brief moment. And as it turned out, there had been no need. These men were all so starved for something to distract them from the horrors of war that they all took great delight in his audacity.

_Many a man would face his gun, and many a man would fall…_

Klaus winked at Dave and then danced his way over to where his boyfriend was sitting. He twisted his body as he bent his knees, lowering himself suggestively between Dave’s legs, maintaining eye contact the entire time and putting his hands on Dave’s thighs to steady himself. Dave swallowed, and Klaus grinned at the reaction. When some of the other men started cheering, Dave looked up self consciously and started to blush. Klaus took that as a signal to back off and find one of the other men to entertain.

_The love of a girl can make a man stay home when he should go. Stay home…_

Klaus shook his ass in Burne’s face, he thrust his hips towards Johansen, and then the song ended and he took a bow. The men were clapping and roaring with laughter by the end, some red in the face with tears in their eyes. Klaus thought that some of the laughter was from mild discomfort more than any actual humor in the situation, but he didn’t mind. These men had become like a family to Klaus. They respected him much more than his real family ever did, so he was happy to bring a smile to their faces. Especially Dave.

But when Klaus looked at Dave, he wasn’t smiling. He was looking down at the ground, his expression subdued.

“You okay?” Klaus asked.

Dave’s head snapped up, pulled from whatever thoughts he was thinking. “Yeah,” he said.

Klaus wasn’t convinced, so he sat down on Dave’s cot next to him, facing him and crossing his legs.

Dave shook his head with a nostalgic half smile. “I haven’t heard that song since I was… I don’t know, 18 or 19? A dumb kid.”

“Hey, that’s my b-” Klaus swallowed the word, aware the other men could hear, and a few were listening with concern. “-best friend you’re talking about, you take that back.” When Dave just laughed in reply, Klaus offered “We all have shitty taste in music when we’re teenagers. You should hear the trash I listened to when I was younger.”

“I’d love to hear it.” Dave said warmly.

“Well, when it comes on the radio, I’ll be sure to let you know.” Klaus told him, knowing full well it would never happen. When Dave didn’t say anything, Klaus gently tapped his knee with the back of his hand, a silent urge to open up.

Dave shook his head. “I’m fine, I just… All of a sudden, I really want to go home.”

“Katz is finally getting homesick, huh?” Burne pipped up, turning the radio off. “Took you long enough. The letters from home didn’t do it, not Christmas or… er… wait, Hanukkah, right? Not even your birthday. But this little ditty from when you were 18 or 19 is what makes you miss home?”

“Yeah, that’s what did it” Dave muttered.

“Way to kill the mood, Dave,” Johansen said, still wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes.

Klaus glared at him. “Hey, shut up!” Then he looked back at Dave, who gave him a half smile.

“So what is it about this song, then?” Piccolo asked. “There’s gotta be a story behind it. Is there a girl involved?”

This got the other men’s attention. They all liked hearing about girls back home.

Dave shook his head. “No, no nothing like that.” Then he sighed and rolled his eyes. “When I was younger, I really admired the stranger from the East. I wanted to be like him.”

“The stranger from the East?” Burne asked.

“Yeah, from the song.”

“Oh, must’ve been Hargreeves’ ass was too distracting, I wasn’t listening to the song.”

Klaus chuckled and Dave looked at him with a smirk. Then Klaus leaned forward and rested his chin on his fists. “Tell us about the song, Dave. What’s it called again?”

“The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.” Klaus smiled and nodded, urging Dave on. Dave sighed again with a sort of embarrassed grin. “Well… alright. It’s about a typical Western villain who’s terrorising the town, his name’s Liberty Valance. And then the typical Western hero, the stranger from the East, comes along wanting to enforce the law… in the typical Western fashion, you know, by shooting Liberty, and saving the town. The stranger’s got a girl-”

“I knew there was a girl!” Piccolo interrupted. “Tell us about the girl, Dave. What’s she look like?”

“That’s not the point…”

“Shut up and let Dave tell the story.” Klaus whined.

“No, I want to hear about the girl!” Piccolo shot back. “Go on Dave, tell us about her.”

“Yeah, tell us about the girl!” Johansen added.

“Uh… I don’t know. She, uh…” Then Dave looked at Klaus. “She has dark hair, green eyes.” He glanced at the other men and then looked down with a wistful smile. “She’s funny, and confident. She’s way cooler than he’ll ever be. But she loves him. She loves him, and he loves her…” Dave looked back at Klaus, “…so much. She’s everything he’s ever wanted and more. All he wants in the whole world is a peaceful life with her, where love is free to grow.” Klaus knew there was a big dumb smile on his face, but he didn’t care. Dave looked back at Piccolo. “Alright?”

Piccolo nodded and made a gesture for Dave to continue.

“Anyway, the girl doesn’t want her man to go out to fight, because she’s afraid he’s not going to come back alive. But he goes.” Dave took a deep breath. “And then that night, everyone hears two shots ring out. But only one shot made Liberty fall.”

“The stranger died too.” Klaus said quietly.

Dave nodded and swallowed, turning his head towards Klaus. He kept his eyes lowered, but Klaus thought he saw them shimmering. “When I enlisted, I didn’t think I was coming back. I joined the army to die a hero, serve my country, make my parents proud. I was such an idiot. I wanted to be like the stranger. I wanted everyone to say I was brave. And I was willing to die for it.”

There were a few moments of deafening silence before Johansen piped up. “Jesus Katz, you really do know how to kill the mood!”

“Hey, shut up Johansen!” Klaus yelled, throwing Dave’s pillow at Johansen. When it landed, Johansen picked it up and threw it at Dave, who caught it and held onto it.

“Yeah,” Piccolo said bitterly, “we all used to be dumb kids who wanted to be heroes. Shooting each other with our fingers or sticks. None of us knew what it meant to actually kill a man. Hey Burne, turn the radio back on.”

The other men seemed to have lost interest in Dave’s story. It was hitting too close to home. None of them wanted to think about how the war had changed them, robbed them of their innocence. But Klaus was still looking at Dave, waiting in case there was more. He caught Dave’s eye, and Dave leaned in. The rest wasn’t for the other men anyway.

“I don’t want to go home to my family, Klaus,” Dave whispered, “I want to go home with you. Your deployment ends in April, right? Mine ends in May. I don’t want to re-enlist this time. I want to make a life with you. Like the song says, a peaceful life where love is free to grow. I don’t want to die like the stranger anymore. I want to live, with you. What do you say?”

Klaus’s opened and closed his fists. The temptation to reach out and touch Dave’s face, to kiss him, was almost too much, but he managed to keep his hands in his lap. Dave seemed to be having the same problem, his fingers dancing over Klaus’ shins. Klaus nodded. “Of course!”

Over the next few weeks, they started making plans for the life they would build with each other, the apartment they would rent in San Francisco, Klaus thought he might like to work in a bar, and Dave wouldn’t mind working in a hardware store again.

But on February 21st, on Hill 689, the shot rang out, and Dave Katz fell.


End file.
